Don't go to Australia, warns asylum seeker

Don t go to Australia, warns asylum seeker - The West Australian

An Afghan detainee on Nauru has warned asylum seekers not to make the voyage to Australia, saying the island's camp was "hell".

The man, aged in his early 20s, who gave his name as Mohammad, said staff were pleasant but conditions were inhumane and detainees were suffering in the humidity.

"We are the victims of Nauru," Mohammad, who is refusing to eat but is drinking water, said in a phone interview from the camp.

"If you want to treat someone like animals, you can bring them here.

"People want to die instead of living here."

He said it was too dangerous for him to return to Afghanistan and he would rather "attempt suicide than go home".

Mohammad had a simple message for boat people planning on claiming refugee status: "They should seek asylum somewhere else, not in Australia."

Mohammad said he left on a boat from Indonesia in September and was initially detained on Christmas Island. But the people smugglers who took his money failed to tell him the Federal Government had revived the Pacific solution.

Asylum seekers on the island began a hunger strike two weeks ago, demanding the camp be shut down and they be moved to Australia to have their claims assessed.